Author: webmaster

In a proud moment for the Gordon Sinclair Foundation, an amazing piece of journalism from Jodie Martinson – the 2015 winner of the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary – will air tonight on CBC’s The National.

The 9-minute documentary marks the culmination of singer Khari McClelland’s journey. Jodie used the bursary to follow the singer in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Detroit as he sought music that could help him understand more about the lives of escaped slaves, such as his own great-great-great grandmother Kizzy. In the piece airing on The National, we see the final build-up to the big moment when McClelland shares the songs he found – and what they mean to him – with a live audience.

On the weekend, on CBC Radio One Tapestry we’ll hear more about Khari’s personal journey to find those songs in another report by Jodie. Still to come, a documentary slated for broadcast this summer that ties the performance and the personal journey together.

Jodie’s remarkable work is going to air just as the Gordon Sinclair Foundation launches the competition for the 2016 Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary. The $15,000 bursary was created in memory of Gordon Sinclair, who made his name gallivanting around the world for the Toronto Star in the 1930s. At a time when most news organizations have cut back on travel, the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary is meant to support a major research and reporting trip by an early career Canadian journalist who has within the past five years graduated from one of Canada’s university-level journalism programs. The purpose of the $15,000 bursary is to encourage a young journalist to get off the beaten track and to spend a considerable period – a minimum of six weeks – away on a reporting assignment.